Disruption in traditional dealership model needed to push e-mobility: Gaurav Uppal – One Electric
Noida based EV company One Electric launched its Made in India electric motorcycle ‘KRIDN‘ in October 2020 and has started making deliveries. We caught up with CEO, Gaurav Uppal to find out about the market reaction and their experience since launching the electric motorcycle. KRIDN offers a top speed of 95 km/h, with a 110 km range and comes at an ex-showroom price tag of INR 1,29,000.
Here are some excerpts from the conversation:
What kind of market response has KRIDN e-motorcycle received in the last couple of months?
We are getting good numbers in sales and people are appreciating our design as well as the power and speed offered by the motorcycle.
We also received hundreds of applications across India to associate with us as dealers. We are rolling out our dealership network with very selective partners who have a long term vision with respect to e-mobility. Right now, we are looking to add dealers in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Maharashtra.
Indian electric 2W scene has been dominated by scooters, mostly low speed. What main challenges did you find in selling a high-performance high-cost electric motorcycle?
We found that more consumer awareness is required with respect to the total cost of ownership of the electric vehicles, so people take a long-term view when they compare EVs with equivalent ICE vehicles than just the difference in the sticker price. Along with that, the lack of easy and affordable financing options for electric vehicles is a major challenge EV OEMs face.
We are now raising funds for the expansion of our production facility. We aspire to start mass production of KRIDN and leverage economies of scale to bring our cost down. This, along with falling battery prices will enable us to bring down the price in the coming years. I feel that EV players need to work together towards building a robust ecosystem for EVs and compete with ICE vehicles.
In your opinion, how can the Indian EV industry come together to facilitate a quicker adoption rate of electric vehicles?
Well, the traditional vehicle dealership model needs to be disrupted to Multi-Brand and Multi-product for better viability and after-sales services for electric vehicles. To support the start-up ecosystem in e-mobility, the EV OEMs need to make strategic alliances among themselves for mass procurement of critical components like cells and batteries. It will help them negotiate better prices for quality components, and lower the overall EV price premium customer needs to pay.
What is your outlook towards EV penetration in the coming year 2021?
We believe that EV adoption will gain momentum in 2021 and green number plates will become a common sight. At One Electric, we have an immediate target of achieving 500 Units of sales by April 2021.
Also Watch: Gaurav Uppal talks about the specifications and features of KRIDN
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If transport/courier companies can make it possible it’s best to have just one company owned experience centre per city, and sell the product online only, or make booking available at those centres only.
I really like the bike, though it has a classic look, but best thing is, all the lights n panels are from Indian manufacturers, one can easily recognise which light is used in which petrol bike.
True and thats exactly what we want to attempt, The Servicing of EV’s can be done by a single company developing and implementing for multiple brands (one main center, rest to support pan city serivicing) , EV servicing is relatively easy as well, not as complicated task like a typical ICE vehicle.
We at eOxigen Automotive are attempting the same. Details can be found on http://www.eoxigen.com
or mail can be sent to sujoy@retcomm.com, we want and are developing a collaborative model.
What ever said and done one thing is clear, Indian manufacturers of Electric Vehicles are pricing the vehicles on a higher side, the moment Govt announced subsidy, that part is also added and then price is quoted, no passing on to the buyer, You ask, they say this price is after subsidy, unless and until the manufacturers respect the pricing sentiments, EV cannot compete and become mass choice, “Remember people are sensible”, “when your cycle parts in EV is not more than Petrol Vehicles”, why is the Price high, “don’t say Batteries”….
It’s a feed back